


The Difference Between Needing and Wanting

by Asymptotical



Series: Fandom: Star Wars - The Old Republic [8]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Kidnapping someone to keep them safe, M/M, Sex pollen causes soul bond (the sex pollen is not in this fic)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:13:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22344637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asymptotical/pseuds/Asymptotical
Summary: The Wrath of the Empire isn't confident that Theron won't be blamed for the Republic's losses on Ziost, and has no idea what the Republic would quietly do to one they would blame for such a thing.So when he gets the chance to kidnap Theron, he takes it.
Relationships: Theron Shan/Male Sith Warrior
Series: Fandom: Star Wars - The Old Republic [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2132868
Comments: 6
Kudos: 123
Collections: Return to the Iron Triangle - January 2020





	The Difference Between Needing and Wanting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wednesday](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wednesday/gifts).



> Totally absolutely not a continuation (or if it is you won't find out until author reveals). <3

The Force was a mysterious thing. A very frustrating mysterious thing that liked to keep its secrets. 

Sometimes its hints had to be followed. Sometimes not following them would have dire consequences. 

Sometimes Wrath just ignored them. 

Its incessant insistence on informing him whenever Theron Shan was in the vicinity was one of those times. 

They had ended up on the same planet a startling number of times, since Yavin. Wrath had known every time. He'd verified about half of them. It was too many for coincidence, but Wrath had no idea why it would happen. 

He was fairly sure that they had accidentally formed some sort of bond while fucking in a cave on Yavin, because where else would that have happened? It wasn't the flowers; they were a common ritual aid and he hadn't sensed anything odd about them. Maybe the random cave they'd ended up in had been some old bonding ritual site, maybe the glowing things there only lit up once every thousand years and they'd happened to have decided to fuck right next to them at exactly the worst time, maybe some ghost had been spying and decided to meddle while Wrath was too distracted to stop it. 

Maybe it was something entirely different, but since he was fairly sure that the Jedi wouldn't stoop to soul bonding their Grandmaster's estranged son to the Wrath of the Empire, it was almost certainly an accident. 

(The SIS would stoop to such things. Wrath didn't think they could, but if they got an opportunity to bond an agent to a high ranking Sith in a way that would get them any information, he was certain that they would. Theron's name was known too widely for him to be of use to the SIS as an undercover agent and he was too good at what he did for them to keep him out of the fight or away from the Empire.) 

(Or maybe that was just him hoping that the SIS would be foolish enough to send Theron into his arms.) 

The only reason he was thinking about any of that, while landing on an Imperial planet with Imperial citizens having their minds seized by an Imperial emperor, was because _somehow_ Theron was here. 

On Ziost. 

If his former Master had gone and possessed the man that Wrath wanted to marry or murder or kidnap and keep chained on his bed or 'accidentally' run into right at the perfect time to fuck him against a random wall (which of those he wanted to do changed by the day, and right now he was too annoyed to decide) then Wrath was going to find the incorporeal bastard and fling him into a sun. 

It probably wouldn't kill him or do much to fix the situation, but it would make Wrath feel slightly less annoyed. 

Wrath managed to pretend like he was focusing on the situation with the Emperor. Or at least Lana didn't let him know that he'd slipped up. It _was_ a dire situation, but so far it was a dire situation that he could solve by hitting things and that really did not require much thought from him. 

When Theron finally showed up, slightly burnt and frantic but otherwise healthy, Wrath had to keep careful control of himself to keep from pinning the other man against a wall and kissing him right then and there. 

It had been a _really annoying_ couple of hours. 

Admittedly, his annoyance was hard to explain to everyone else, seeing as no one but him knew that he could sense Theron's presence. Wrath didn't bother trying. It was neither the time nor the place. 

And then Theron was gone again, off like a breeze to actually try and take care of this thing that literally everyone but Wrath was fixated on. 

Wrath was doubtful they could actually rescue anyone that his Master had staked a claim on. The whole planet was probably fucked, but the more they distracted the Emperor the more people they could evacuate with their minds still free, before they abandoned the Emperor to his feasting. 

Theron probably wouldn't be happy to have to leave his Jedi behind. 

He'd been idly wondering whether the Emperor had some way to take over his Wrath. If he did, he was likely to wait to use it for an opportune time. 

If the Emperor had such an ability, he didn't use it this day. He didn't even try to take over Wrath's mind in the way he had the rest of this planet. 

Instead they spend a lot of time accomplishing absolutely nothing but saving some useless Jedi, Theron nearly got killed, and the ancient asshole saved his dramatic speech for right when it would interrupt a holocall. 

It was incredibly difficult to be properly fearful of someone who had spent all day engaging in the sort of theatrics most Sith had wet dreams about being the star of. It was all incredibly tedious and stereotypical and Wrath's attention was honestly still more in the moment when Theron and Lana had been arguing about Master Surro and for a fraction of a second he had almost told Theron that he would let the Jedi have Master Surro if they let Wrath have Theron. 

He didn't say it, but he'd been tempted. 

He should have just listened to the Force and fucked Theron on one of those random planets, if this was how he was reacting now that they were actually forced to work together instead of barely missing each other. 

Wrath's mental whining was interrupted as he suddenly realized that Theron wasn't off the planet. 

He should have been. 

If he was still here, then Master Surro was still here. 

Wrath didn't bother to go further into that thought, instead tearing his way back up the tower. 

He found Theron halfway there. _Not_ being skewered by any Jedi. 

Theron seemed to be doing a decent job of keeping the Emperor's puppets away from him, but Wrath killed them all the same. It was easy, a breath and a burst of force and down they went. 

Theron looked almost startled, for some reason. "Thought you would have left by now, after that speech." 

"You should have left _before it_ ," Wrath snapped. "Why are you still here?" 

"Looking for you. Figured we should coordinate on the evac some." 

"You could have commed me." 

Theron shrugged. "The moment I get back, I'm going to end up straight into debriefing no matter what else is left to do. Saresh isn't exactly known for her patience." 

"You could have gotten killed." 

"If I'd known ahead of time that your boss was about to do a dramatic unveiling, maybe I'd have gone to brave the debriefing instead." 

Wrath stayed silent, struggling with himself and frowning down at Theron. 

It occurred to him that he had no idea what the SIS would do, with an agent they could so easily blame for their losses here. Especially with the Republic's current leader having all but blamed Theron already. 

Theron's eyes narrowed. "Did you know that he was going to do that?" 

Wrath took a moment. It hadn't been what he was thinking about but…. 

"You _did_." Theron threw a hand up, clearly frustrated. "You didn't think to inform the rest of the class?" 

Wrath shrugged. "If he was so easy to defeat, he wouldn't have reached this level of strength." 

Wrath thought, quietly, that if Theron had been in any 'classes' that Wrath had ever attended, this would all be much simpler. Even if the other man would make a _terrible_ Sith. Theron was far too concerned about other people. Or maybe Korriban would have done it's job and honed Theron into a proper blade. Wrath couldn't imagine Theron being one of the nameless disciples who just _died_. He was too clever for that. 

"Then what was the point of--" Theron cut off as something mechanical wailed loud enough to penetrate the building they were standing in. "We should move, before Saresh decides to try bombing the surface or something." 

"Mm." Wrath agreed. "Come with me." 

"Not much choice there." Theron sighed. "Lead the way." 

It didn't take long to reach the top of the tower again. 

Vette cracked a quiet joke about picking up his boyfriend into their private comms, as they boarded the ship, but otherwise didn't say a word. The rest weren't there. The whole situation had come on them too suddenly and his most trusted people had too many things to do for him to just keep them aboard the ship constantly 'just in case'. 

Theron seemed to think that they were going to regroup and come up with another plan. Wrath let him keep that illusion. 

He didn't have to fake the shock when Vette called them up into piloting, just in time to see the planet consumed. 

The entire fucking planet. 

He shoved Theron into the co-pilot's chair and barely had time to see his annoyed look before he was turning towards the door. "Stay here. Make friends. I need to talk to Marr." 

"Seriously?" Theron said, sounding annoyed and shaken all at once. 

"You get used to it." Vette told him, then comforted herself by turning the ship away from the devoured planet and launching into a story about something or other. Wrath didn't stick around to listen. 

By the time he got back, Theron had managed to get Vette to shut up (she was buried in a datapad; in numbers and plans and anything she could distract herself with) and was shutting down his own comm. 

"I've got a rendezvous spot set up. We'll have to reconvene later to deal with this." Theron told him. 

"Vette, set course for Drummond Kaas." 

"Did I suddenly go invisible?" Theron snarked. "You can't exactly bring me along." 

"Yes I can." 

"Uh… no?" 

"We need to know what happened on your side of things. You're the best source for that." 

"He mostly just wanted to kidnap you." Vette reassured him. "He's brought it up like three times since we got to Ziost." 

"Vette." Wrath scowled at her. 

She turned to the console, fake cheer in her voice. "Setting course for Drummond Kaas. You, uh, might want to not leave your boyfriend in piloting?" 

Wrath gave her an annoyed look, but didn't say anything as he pulled Theron up out of the chair. 

"I'm not his _boyfriend_ ," Theron snapped. 

"Just ignore Vette," Wrath told him, ignoring the way that stung. Of course they weren't in a relationship. One encounter that only occured because they'd accidentally encountered a wild aphrodisiac did not a relationship make. 

He did push Theron out the door ahead of him and wait for just long enough for the spy to turn around before he severed the door connections with the Force and locked Vette inside. 

Vette wouldn't be happy about that, but the ship was made so that the pilot could be barricaded within by a Sith, if needed. She could survive one night of sleeping in a cot. 

It was most certainly worth the little bit of frustration that flickered over Theron's face, when he realized that slicing into piloting wasn't going to happen. 

"Can I call my people back to let them know there's a change in plans because I'm being kidnapped by a Sith?" Theron snarked, frustration lacing his voice. 

"Sure." Wrath agreed breezily, then went to make sure that he hadn't left any sensitive information sitting out in his room and lock down his personal terminal. Or maybe he should leave it open? Unlocked would be less tempting to slice into. Maybe he should just put embarrassingly sappy poetry as the first thing Theron would see when he sliced in, to discourage further snooping? 

That probably wouldn't stop a trained republic spy, but it was amusing enough that he was tempted to comm Vette and ask her for some. 

He didn't _actually_ need to kidnap Theron. True, he'd told Lana and a few members of the Dark Council that he had possession of a republic agent who knew what had gone on with the republic forces there and that he would be retrieving that information from him, but Wrath had also made it very clear that he wouldn't be handing that agent over to anyone else. 

None of them had bothered arguing. Everyone was too distracted by the enormity of their former Emperor devouring a planet to fuss over the Wrath keeping a single information source to himself. 

Said information source burst into the room right about the time that Wrath was trying to figure out how to make a screenshot of the sappy poem that Vette had provided him into the background of the password screen so that Theron would have to see it the whole time he tried to slice into the computer, when he attempted it. Because he would attempt it. 

Vette had suggested grabbing a security cam image of Theron and drawing a bunch of hearts on it, but after some discussion they'd agreed that was probably too creepy. 

"Done with your call?" Wrath asked, feeling calmer than he had in _weeks_. 

"Done explaining to the Chancellor that the Empire's Wrath is taking me on an unplanned trip to the Imperial capital for a _chat_? Yeah. Done with that." Theron glared at him. "None of this is necessary." 

Wrath watched him for a long moment. Theron was bruised and frustrated, but had sustained remarkably little injury considering how badly the day had gone. 

That might not hold true, if he had let Theron walk back to the SIS. 

"Are you going to actually say anything or are you just going to stand there looking ominous and boring a hole through me with your eyes?" Theron complained. 

"Your people are going to have to decide who to blame for their losses." Wrath answered after a moment more. He didn't expect Theron to understand the urgency, no one from the Republic ever seemed to understand these things until they were already in motion, but it was best to just explain. "Your chancellor will not blame herself and it's better that you not be there when they make that decision." 

Theron looked a little startled, then he leaned against the doorway and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You--I'm not going to get executed by the Republic." 

"Execution is sometimes the merciful option." 

Theron smirked at him, the closest thing that Wrath had seen to a grin on his face the whole day. "I'm not going to get anything else by the Republic either. We don't do that." 

Wrath wondered if Theron knew about Belsavis. He had to, didn't he? The Republic did plenty of nasty things, when they thought no one was looking. 

"Don't look so dire," Theron continued. "We'll just--okay. We'll turn this into an actual information exchange. Not really a convenient one, but it's something we needed to do anyways. I was going to get a hell of a debriefing anyways, after openly working with you and Lana, so this won't make it that much worse. Might even make it better, if we can get anything useful figured out." 

"We can do that." Wrath agreed. Part of him was slightly disappointed that he wasn't going to get to chain Theron to his bed, even if that would have meant sleeping in an extra bunk or on the couch, but overall this was a better situation. 

Theron sighed at him. "How do you manage to make that simple of a sentence seem ominous. Do you even--nevermind. I need to borrow your shower. And probably some clothes if you have anything that doesn't scream 'Look at me, I'm a Sith!'" 

Wrath rolled his eyes. "I'm sure I can find something. We'll need to look at those wounds." 

Theron hesitated, then agreed. "Shower first." 

"Mm." 

Wrath waved Theron into his bathroom, because obviously if he had the chance to put Theron into his own shower that's exactly what he was going to do, and then found some extra clothes that were soft enough to sleep and didn't scream 'Sith'. 

That was...harder than expected. Wrath usually just slept naked, and all of the things he wore for the day were all meant for a Sith to wear. Eventually he settled on just black with no red or metal bits. People from the Republic wore black too, he was fairly sure. 

It was tempting to just wait for Theron to get out of the shower...but Wrath needed to make sure that he hadn't left any sensitive information in the medbay. And lock that computer. And finish putting the poem as his personal computer's lock screen background. 

And he should probably free Vette from piloting, now that Theron seemed less inclined to hijack the ship. 

By the time he was done with all that, he could hear Theron in the medbay. 

He almost went into see if he could help, but the moment he stepped near the doorway he could see Theron standing there in Wrath's clothes with the sleeves rolled up and the neck showing far more collar bone than it was meant to and-- 

By the time Theron noticed him, Wrath was certain that if he took a single step into that room he wasn't going to be able to think about anything but fucking Theron against the wall. Instead he just nodded at Theron, his expression carefully controlled, and stalked off to have a shower. 

A cold shower. 

A useless cold shower, because when he was done and walked back into his room, wearing nothing but a towel, Theron was sitting on his bed. 

"I really don't get you," Theron said. "You avoid me for months, and then the first time we're forced to talk, you kidnap me to try to save me from something that you don't even need to worry about and your pilot is calling me your boyfriend." 

"Just ignore Vette," Wrath advised. Then he caught up with the rest of the sentence. "Avoid you?" 

Theron's eyes narrowed. "It's been three months and you've shown up on seven different planets exactly when I've been there. Did you really think I wouldn't notice?" 

"I had objectives on those planets." Wrath scowled at him. "Contacting someone who I agreed to keep my distance from, when there wasn't a veneer of being allies to hide behind, wasn't among those objectives." 

Theron snorted. "But stalking me was fine? Seven planets can't be a coincidence." 

"It was the Force." Wrath shrugged. 

Theron tilted his head back and sighed. It showed off his neck and all of a sudden Wrath wanted nothing more than to bite him. Or to get Theron to bite him again. That had been nice, the last time. 

When Theron looked back at him, Theron looked a little bit startled for a fraction of a moment before it smoothed out. "Oh for--what has you looking like that now? Did you really think I'd believe just blaming 'the Force'?" 

Wrath debated explaining the bond to him, how they'd accidentally done some ritual or been connected by something on Yavin. 

He decided against it. Eventually he'd explain. Right now, when he still had no idea what it actually was and hadn't bothered even attempting to look into it, was not that time. 

"You,"--he finally said, after staring at Theron for long enough that the other man started to look uncomfortable--"are very bold, to come in here when I'm all but naked and you're wearing my clothes, to sit on my bed and chide me for not accosting you during a mission. If you _didn't_ want me to shove you down on that bed and ravage you, then you're doing very little to convince me not to." 

Theron tilted his chin up slightly. "Who said I didn't want that?" 

Wrath pulled in a breath. 

He wanted, intensely, to just rush over there and take what was his. 

Instead, he slowly unwound the towel from around his waist. Theron was staring at him, his face going red as his eyes flickered over Wrath's body, and it made Wrath want to bask in the attention. 

Wrath was already hard. He had been by halfway through that conversation. There was no way that Theron hadn't noticed and Wrath wouldn't have cared even if it had driven the other man from the room. 

He could see Theron's fingers gripping at the bedspread and his toes curling against the floor. More importantly, he could see those borrowed pants tenting. The fabric was too thick to show much...but it was enough for Wrath to think that moving slowly had been the right idea. 

The way Theron swallowed, as Wrath stalked across the room towards him, confirmed it. 

Wrath paused a moment to trail his fingers against Theron's cheek, then gently grabbed him with the Force and tossed him to the center of the bed. 

It would be so easy to tear him apart. It was startling, to have the thought right then, but it was true. Theron had no defenses here. Wrath wanted nothing more than to trap him there and never _ever_ let him leave, and for a moment it felt like he could, just by the Force alone. 

" _Really_?" Theron protested, pushing up onto his elbows and glaring at Wrath. "Was that really--" 

Wrath silence him with a kiss, shoving him back down onto the bed. It was just as tempting to go fast this time as it had been the last time, when he'd had an aphrodisiac spurring him on, but he knew the value of taking his time. 

If anything he wanted it _more_ now, when it was just desire getting them to this moment. 

Well, desire and a bit of kidnapping. 

But it was desire that was making Theron arch up against him and desire that had the other man's hand running up his arms, not so subtly following the path of Wrath's muscles. 

It was desire that made Theron gasp as Wrath slipped his hand up under his shirt, tracing his fingers lightly against his skin. 

"You're wearing far too many clothes for this," he murmured against Theron's lips. 

"Whose fault is that?" Theron gasped, turning his head away slightly. 

Wrath kissed his cheek, trailing the kisses down to his neck. Then he gave into his earlier urge and bit him. 

Not hard, it would barely leave a mark, but it was enough to draw a strangled moan from Theron. And then the other man was shoving at his chest. 

Wrath pulled back, reluctant to lose a single point of contact, but not wanting to ruin this over so little a thing. 

Theron wasn't upset, Wrath realized, after a moment. Theron was pulling his shirt off. 

He was more than content to watch that. It wasn't the most graceful sort of undressing he'd ever seen. Theron wasn't trying to tempt him (not that he needed tempting), he was just getting the clothes out of the way. 

Wrath was tempted to offer to just rip them off. 

Instead he watched, and once Theron had tossed the pants off the side of the bed and was looking at him again, he pounced. 

"You could have at least gone to get lube." Theron groused at him, managing to get a moment between kisses. 

"Why get something that's here already?" 

"You--you were really optimistic about where this was going, weren't you." 

Wrath just hummed and kissed Theron's shoulder before pulling back and admiring him. He hadn't been able to, on Yavin, and he wanted to savor it. Theron was _fit_ and the Force was singing of a story wound in every one of his scars. Wrath wasn't certain that it would be possible to get those stories out of him, with all the secrecy and spying and that little hitch of them technically being enemies, but he could feel them all the same. He wasn't certain which aspect of the other man he wanted to admire more, the physical or the history, so he just let himself spend a moment captivated by both. 

Theron shivered slightly, even though Wrath had adjusted the room temperature the moment he knew where this was going, and crossed his arms. "Stop being all--Just stop it. If you've got lube handy then hand it over." 

Wrath wasn't certain if Theron didn't share his appreciation for going slow, or if Theron was just feeling awkward. 

He'd just have to make them go slower another time. Maybe he'd actually tie Theron to his bed, if he had to. For now, there was no reason to _deny_ him, so Wrath grabbed the lube off of where it had been sitting in plain sight on his bedside table and floated it to Theron's hand. 

Theron glared at him. "Really? Right there?" 

Wrath shrugged. "Either I was going to fuck you or I was going to jerk off. It's my room, why keep it hidden?" 

Theron seemed to be struggling with what to say. After a long moment, which Wrath spent less waiting and more trailing his eyes across Theron trying to memorize every plane of his body, he sighed and seemed to make a decision. 

And that decision was to uncap the lube and start to _prepare himself_. 

Wrath sat back to watch, silent and hungry for every movement. He would have been happy to have been the one touching Theron, right now, to have his fingers inside him, but seeing it was just as good. Seeing how Theron's body changed, how he started tense and slowly relaxed, how he moved his legs when he needed more, was even better. 

When Theron's eyes fluttered closed, Wrath finally allowed himself to move closer again. He ran a hand up Theron's leg, making his eyes snap back open. "Not yet," Theron told him. 

"Mm." Wrath traced his fingers lightly up Theron's chest and leaned up to kiss him. "I can be patient." 

"You're going to have to be." Theron was clearly trying to sound stern, even though there was a slight shake to his voice, and Wrath decided to let him keep the illusion. He rubbed his thumb over one of Theron's nipples and was rewarded with a gasp. "You literally _just_ said--" 

"I am being patient." Wrath purred, kissing his cheek. "If I wasn't I would be touching you here." He slid his hand down and trailed the edge of a nail up Theron's dick. 

Theron let out a whine and reached his free hand up to grab Wrath and yank him in for a rough kiss. Wrath would have been content to back off, to be patient, but then Theron _bit into his lip_ , and if he was going to be so rewarded for impatience then why be patient? 

He slid his fingers back down Theron's dick, lightly, just barely touching, and moaned as he was bitten again. 

Theron pulled his hand away from himself, tilting his head away from the kiss but still clinging to Wrath, his head pressing against Wrath's shoulder. "Fuck." 

"That _is_ the eventual idea." 

"Fuck you." 

"Also the idea," Wrath hummed. "But we're being patient." 

Theron bit into his shoulder, then shivered as Wrath moaned, as though he hadn't been expecting the reaction. "Fuck being patient. Get in me." 

Wrath kissed Theron's ear, then pulled at his hair until Theron moved his head back enough that Wrath could kiss him properly. He kept kissing him as he adjusted their positions, taking his time. 

Once he was ready he pulled back, enough that he could see Theron's face. Theron tried to reach for him but Wrath caught his hands and pinned them both to the bed with one of his own. 

Theron wrapped his legs around him, heels digging insistently into Wrath's back. "Would you stop being a tease and just--" 

The rest of Theron's words were lost as Wrath thrust into him. Wrath pressed a kiss into his neck as he moved, wanting to hear whatever sounds that Theron was willing to give him as he figured out _exactly_ how best to please him. 

By the time he started losing _himself_ \-- to the feel of Theron around him and the way he was gasping for breath and the shaking of his legs--Wrath gave in and kissed him again. 

He could have kept going forever, or at least for hours, but Theron didn't have a Sith's Force given stamina. When Wrath felt Theron tightening around him, both felt and heard the gasping whimpers torn from Theron's throat, he let the echo of that feeling run through him and followed it down. 

He didn't collapse all his weight onto Theron, but it was a near thing. 

Instead, Wrath pushed himself to the side, relaxing onto his back and pulling Theron half onto his chest. 

Theron muttered grumpily into his shoulder, still trying to catch his breath. "We're going to need another shower." 

"Mm, later." 

"Going to be a sticky mess." 

"If we go again, then another shower will be a waste of time." 

Theron flicked a finger reproachfully against his abs. "You are a literal monster." 

"Sith." 

"You know what I meant. We don't have your crazy sex flowers affecting us this time, which means a _normal_ refractory period." 

"I could fix that." 

Theron cuddled closer against his side, flicking him again. " _No_. Normal refractory period. No Force tricks." 

Wrath pulled Theron more fully onto him. "No Force tricks," he agreed. "Just normal ones." And then he kissed him again. 


End file.
